The dispute between the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and the Holy See’s Secretariat of State can be quite confusing. So much so that even the Secretary of State himself, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, seems to be having a hard time finding his place in the affair.
To recap: Cardinal Parolin has announced that a commission to investigate the dismissal of the Order’s Grand Chancellor will go ahead. He has said, according to recent leaks, that the Order is a “lay religious Order” which is to be of “service to the faith and to the Holy Father”. Therefore, he is alleged to have reasoned, the Holy See has the authority to intervene in the Order’s internal governance.
